Next Generation Console(s) Buyer's Guide

All three systems are incredible in their own unique way. Each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Playstation 4 is the one with the slight technological edge over the Xbox One. Xbox One is the most expensive but comes with the best motion sensor/peripherals (closely followed by Wii U). While Wii U has the cheapest price tag, it lags behind the technical specifications of both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

Each system also has its own list or exclusive games with about an even tie between Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Nintendo by far has the most exclusive titles as Nintendo has been developing consoles longer than Sony or Microsoft.

I am not biased at all one way or the other as I have had past consoles/systems from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Unfortunately consoles are getting pricey enough that generally someone either has one or two of the consoles, In the past it wasn't always the case as I have often had all three of the current (now past) consoles.

Playstation 4 is the powerhouse of all three consoles, being the most technically advanced of all the three consoles. Able to play 1080p on most if not all games without a problem. Playstation 4 has been ahead of the sales of both the Wii U and Xbox One since its debut. While the motion sensing controls, and voice controls may not be up to par with the Xbox One, they are adding to it over time. Playstation 4 has a number of exclusive games as well not available to Xbox One.

Playstation 4 also is cheaper than Xbox One but not quite as cheap as the Wii U. At both this year and last year (more so last year), Sony has put on an incredible show at E3 as well. For more details on 2014's E3 check out a previous hubpage of mine here: http://jheldt.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Games-of-2014s-E3-Expo

At this year's E3 Sony had an impressive showing of several games, as well as the other entertainment aspects of the console and also teased their virtual reality prototype Project Morpheus as well. Mainly though they showed off all their exclusive (and non-exclusive) games which gamers are mostly wanting. At last year's E3 they took advantage of the fiasco Microsoft had with the debut of their console. Showing this year at E3 you didn't have to always be connected to the internet to play or if a friend wanted to play your game they didn't have to purchase a pass or separate game to do so.

Some other new features of the Playstation 4 are a slightly modified controller with a touchscreen added to each controller. The controller also has some motion detection capabilities as well.

The Playstation Camera is an optional accessory one can buy separately and independent of the console (as opposed to bundled with the Xbox One with the kinect 2.0). Starting with Playstation 4, a Playstation Plus subscription is required to access online multiplayer for most games.

Like the Xbox One, Playstation 4 interfaces with several streaming websites and programs such as Twitch, Ustream and Niconico to stream your game while playing, and share clips with friends or online.

The playstation 4 like the Xbox One is able to interact with mobile devices with the Playstation App.

As of now there is no backwards compatibility (no playing games from PS1-PS3). Although you can purchase and stream games from PS3 and past consoles via Playstation Now.

Another feature unique to the Playstation 4 is the removable and upgradeable hard drive.

This is the console that I currently play. Like the Playstation 4 it is not backwards compatible, although it is possible to hook up the HDMI connection from an Xbox 360 to an Xbox One to stream it. Although here has been talk of doing a cloud gaming system to allow the playing of games from past consoles.

While not the most technically advanced of the consoles, it does follow closely behind the Playstation 4. It does allow games to played in 4k resolution but doesn't always support 1080p/i which means some games won't look as impressive as they do on the playstation 4. The decision to not support it was that the Xbox One is designed as more of an entertainment device and not necessarily a gaming console.

With Xbox Smartglass you can use mobile devices such as phones or tablets as a second screen to control and integrate with the Xbox One. Xbox live has the ability to upload clips that you can edit and share via twitch. Xbox One also has a number of apps such as Skype, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video and Crunchyroll as well.

A unique feature to Xbox one is the ability to do split screen with two applications (one of them could be a game running) and ability to switch between the two applications. Examples of this are watching TV on a large part of the screen while playing a game in a small part (or vice versa). This can be used when an Xbox 360 is connected, to play the Xbox 360 on the Xbox One with an application running in the background.

The motion sensing and voice control is the best of all three consoles. The console is even able to turn on when turned off as the microphone is always on.

While initially the Kinect accessory was released in tandem with the console they are releasing the console by itself for a hundred dollars cheaper (400 dollars compared to 500).

A perk of signing up with the online Xbox Live Gold service is the releasing of 1-2 free games a month (for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One).

A drawback of the console design is the Xbox One is the largest of all three consoles. The size was even bigger when first revealed but was cut and slimmed down some. Some have even compared it to the size of old school VCRs.

The Wii U was the first new console to be released and was released in 2012. Development started on the console after a lot of complaints over the graphics of the Wii and its inability to play games in HD, and its emphasis on casual gaming and gamers. With the Wii U, Nintendo is attempting to bring back core gamers and take the focus away from casual gaming which they had done with the Wii.

The Wii U had a rocky start when first introduced and first released. Sales weren't as good as expected, and a lot of it was due to the new controls, and touchscreen gamepad controller. The Wii U is the first and only next generation console that is backwards compatible. The Wii U can be controlled using past controllers (not yet gamecube controllers) such as the classic controller, Wii mote (with nunchuk attachment), Wii Balance Board, Wii Wheel, Wii Zapper and other new controllers such as the Wii Remote plus, Wii U Gamepad and Wii U Pro Controllers.

The new Gamepad is capable of using motion control as well as touchscreen capability. Someone can also play Wii U games on the screen of the Wii U gamepad as well. It allows one person to play on the tv screen with a controller of some kind and another player to play on the Wii U gamepad, without having to split the screen for local multiplayer.

The online services for the Wii U have been vastly upgraded and is still free to play online. To download DLC, and games off the virtual console you still have to pay though. The Wii U has a loyalty program similar to the Playstation Plus called Nintendo Network Premium which gives points to players when purchasing items online and goes towards future purchases.

The Wii U offers a lot of the apps offered by Xbox One and Playstation 4 such as Hulu, Netflix with a few unique to the Wii U such as Wii Karaoke U, Wii Street U and others.

While the weakest technically of all the three consoles currently out the Wii U has been redesigned not only for gamers but also for an entertainment hub as well. The Wii U is also available for 250-300 dollars making it the cheapest console out right now.